The New Year

I really liked 2014.  I always knew I would.  14 is my favorite number after all.  Looking back a large amount of amazing things were able to occur in my life. I turned twenty!  I married the man who makes me the happiest, pushes me to all levels of potential and makes it real, and treats me like a queen.  I became a junior in college!!  I traveled to new states.  I made friendships to last a lifetime.  My parents moved to Utah (still in shock about that).  I broke all barriers I previously had with my education and exceeded all of my expectations.  Lastly, I became Primary President, Ward Pianist, R.S. Pianist, and a Sunday teacher this year. 

Looking forward to this year, I am a little less unsure of what life has ahead of me.  I do know that this is my last year as a student in Rexburg and that's really quite strange.  I can't believe how fast time as gone and how strangely enough I really have come to love this place.  I will need to complete my teacher certification exams.  I get to student teach!  Um hello, I graduate!! But, in the midst of all of this excitement I really don't know where/when we can and will get an internship.  So this means that much of my life is up in the air in terms of knowing where I will be living and what we'll be doing.  I also should be graduating the same semester as Jacob and that is seriously the coolest thing for me to be able to do!

In terms of what our little family is looking forward to implementing within the new year it is the word "trust".  We have decided to make this our life motto for the year.  Now, I know that may seem like a strange word to pick.  But, when your life is full of constant change, insecurity, and chaos, it is crucial to trust in yourself, your spouse, and Heavenly Father.  This trust in a sense cancels out all of the other fears, because if you know that you have this in your life then you really honestly do have your priorities within the right places and that it will all work out. 

Now, I don't know if I'm necessarily down with the whole "new year, new me" thing, but I am down for "progression".  I want to progress.  I want to develop a better "Paige".  I want our cute little two-person family to experience all of the best possible sweet joys that we can and should experience this year.  Progression is one the keys to happiness I believe. 

So, even though I don't really know what is ahead of me in this year, where I'll be living for all of it, if we will get an internship, how I'll pass my certification tests, which school I'll be paired with for student teaching, bring it on.  I've someone learned a huge lesson in college that change isn't so bad after all.  That by no means that I'm perfect at it, hah, but it sure means that I'm learning how to accept it with a lot more grace than I ever have previously.

Here's to 2015...That's all for now folks.  Hope you enjoyed your stay. 

For your pleasure, I have included some pictures from 2014. 

They are almost in monthly order, but most definitely not guaranteed.

Maybe I should apologize for the amount of pictures, but maybe one day our posterity will thank me for this....maybe.  :)

The Practicum

I have been drowning in school work for the past month.  My ability to socialize, do creative fun things by choice, or even just relax and actually sleep by my own will has diminished.  So, I may be a slight perfectionist and may have exaggerated the need to get things done.  But, in my book, in terms of a college education it pays off. 

I have had the experience of going to the middle school, junior high, and high school in the area to participate in my practicum.  Mainly, I spend time at the middle school.  I observe there and teach 3 class days.  It has been quite a learning experience for me.  My limits have been pushed and it has shown me the capabilities that I actually have and didn't realize before.

While I have been doing this class I have pushed my butt, and had to put a lot of trust into others.  Despite this being challenging, I guess I have learned the lesson that my teachers had in mind when they assigned all these things.

I feel very happy here in Rexburg.  My parents came to visit us last Sunday, which was awesome.  I have a grip, at least for now, on how my life is going.  I get to watch the world transform into a winter wonderland.  And, heck, Hogwarts is my campus....they put Christmas decorations up!!  Tonight we are going to my in-law's for a Christmas play this weekend and I am excited to spend time in a real home. 

Hope the beginning of the holiday season as been treating you well, and that you enjoyed your stay!  That's all for now folks. 

Paigey

The Land of Bounty

This weekend Jacob and I decided to take a trip down to Bountiful, Utah to visit my family.  We were initially going to come down during Sam's birthday weekend but, alas my parents decided to go to Vegas (the nerve).  We left on Friday evening to make it there before it wasn't too late to spend time with my mom, dad, and sister.  Before we had left for the trip my friend from PA Kate had sent me a text asking when I'd make it down to UT in the future and so we had some plans to see her Saturday, plans to see Meg & Trevor's apartment, and plans to go to a baby shower for three pregnant cousins!

General Conference was great as per usual.  They seem to never let us down.  My mom made us these delicious pumpkin spice waffles and naturally I put some chocolate chips on it.  Some highlights of the day were jumping on the trampoline, sleeping in till 9 (I sound ancient), seeing Katerpuff and getting some prints from France, getting my nails done by Camille, going to Meg & Trevor's humble abode, Sam and Kristie coming, driving down I-15 with no seat belts, taco salad at the baby shower, and Nielson's Custard where naturally everyone knew everyone within the store.
  
Meg & Trevor have the cutest apartment I ever saw.  Full of Ikea perfection and Meg's stylistic eye for everything.  One day we won't have such a generic place to live and I can't wait for that.  I am so happy that we live so close to each other! 

For Priesthood session my Dad, Sam, Jacob, and Trevor dealt with a fiasco from Domino's while us girls (Meg and Kate crashed with my assistance) went to the baby shower at Aunt Ashley's house.  It was a blast.  Seriously, I forgot how much fun baby showers are and to have three girls pregnant was way awesome!  The food was spot on and was the company.

When we were all back, and after we dropped Kate off with a bunch of strapping young men at the frontrunner, the kids decided to go get some custard.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love frozen creamy-like desserts?  Man, I like them.  It was fun to just eat and chat and relax.

Then, on Sunday it was round two of conference.  As we munched down the fabulous waffle pancakes we got ready for the show.  I loved actually watching all four sessions of conference.  It was cool to see how many faces I actually knew.  I loved the messages and I loved spending it with family.

Jacob and I went on a walk with my parentals which is always fun.  We ran into my cousin and his family that were going for a bike ride for Max's 8th birthday (he had gotten a bike).  I really like the beauty of Bountiful and the atmosphere there.  It's funny because people are already training for skiing by skiing on the streets with roller blades attached to them.  Hahah, that was a sight to see.

Finally it was time to go and we were on our merry way.  About an hour into the drive we got a call from Camille explaining that we left my laptop charger.  With no spare around the house we decided to go back and get it.  Two hours of detour later and we're back to where we were when she called the first time.  A little after this point all of the cars are slamming their brakes and I feel like we're going to crash (no not really, I just always overreact) and there's a car crash, because it's Utah and they suck at driving.  This is seriously like the third one we'd seen on our drive.  Well this caused a detour up Brigham City and lots of confused cars on how to let everyone through.  Seriously though, Utah needs one big course on how to drive, they're awful at it! 

We're driving along I-15 with no cars in sight because we found the shortcut off the detour feeling all good about life when Jacob says "Um, are we in the right place?".  Surely we were because I just seen a familiar sign about an hour ago (that's normal to not see signs for a long time in Idaho).  Well, it turns out we forgot (I HAVE NO IDEA HOW WE FORGOT WE ALWAYS GO ON THIS TRIP) a turn at Tremonton and were now heading to Twin Falls rather than Rexburg.  So, we add another two hours of detour to our trip.  When we finally went over the state border at 9:30 pm, is when we should have been pulling into our apartment.  Jacob was excited to talk about all these books he had read growing up to keep himself awake and I started to fall asleep.  Then, BAM, hunger strikes.  We stopped at Burger King in the middle of nowhere which included a creepy cat and we're on our way again.  Finally, I know we're almost there and in Idaho Falls because that's the only place you turn.  Hah, Idaho is so different from Philly.  I had never been so excited to be home and see my bed, and to sleep in it.

Now, it's a new week of school and new week of stress and anxiety.  I really need to get better at handling that.  But, just take one day at a time for now.  :)

I hope you enjoyed your stay.  That's all for now!   

The Oldest Brother

It's my big brother Parker's birthday!! I just love that guy and how he has always had time for me.  When I think of our short years where we actually lived in the same house I remember all the times he would actually think about his baby sister.  Some of my favorite memories with him are these:

1. Being allowed to wake up in the night when he babysat and he'd let me cuddle with him and watch movies.
2.  (This one is funny)  When he taught me that I didn't have to have him unzip my dress to use the bathroom-but rather that I can just lift up the bottom of the dress and hold it while I use the bathroom.
3. All the times he brought home friends from Seminary.
4.  All the times he'd super-glue his thumbs together and try to convince me to do that.
5. Let's just simplify it and say "all the times he tricked me but it was actually really funny"
6.  The morning he left for his mission and came in and told me he loved me and gave me a kiss and a hug.
7. The night he came back from his mission and hugged me and cried.
8.  All of the countless times in the car, and the times he took me driving before I had my permit to learn stick shift.
9.  Learning about classic rock.
10. More recently-Weddings, weddings, weddings, and taking the time and effort to visit eachother.


Also, General Conference is this weekend!  I'm really excited to spend some time with family and those that I love.  Whenever fall conference rolls around I always think back to second grade and when we got Chester around conference.  My oh my, how I miss having a puppy!

Happy Birthday Parker!! I love you and I am always grateful for the times you take time out of your busy life and remember to call your baby sister and check in on her.  I really love it.

I bet Carolyn will make you the bestest cake or treat ever. 

Well, that's all for now!  I hope you enjoyed your stay.  

The Favorite Season.

Autumn is my favorite season.  Always has been, always will be.  The hardest part about not living in the east for me, is missing fall.  I love everything about Rexburg, but I just am filled with doubts that they will have a better fall than say Massachusetts.  Well, today, as I was walking around Rexburg after my class I was thinking about PA falls.  My heart was aching for some leaves, quaint small town traditions, and city lights.  Then, as if someone knew I needed a pick me up I saw a girl who I haven't seen in four years.  She was from PA!! This girl, who was unexpectedly run into, lived in PA, I was her camp counselor, and she moved away.  It was strangely comforting to see someone who knew my home.  It may have been just something simple, but to me it was everything I exactly needed at that point.

Then, on top of my aching for some Linvilla-esque place I walked by Hemming Village here in Rexburg.  Be still my soul-it looked like Media!  They were placing haystacks, orange lights, corn stocks, and old lanterns to help celebrate the fall season.  This may all sound like bogus to others, but to me I got butterflies in my stomach.  Happiness.  I was relieved of life's stress and worries for a moment as I was able to have a taste of home.  While in Rexburg, I'm usually typically pretty good about not missing PA, particularly because I am married to an Idahoan and I don't know where life is going to take us.  But, I have never been here in the fall.  It's a transition, and an acceptance that this is home.  But, while I'm typically good about not longing for my home in PA it still is rough when I long for familiar faces, familiar places, and just familiarity in general.  Basically, today I am filled with gratitude for the simple things of seeing one familiar face from PA, and the familiarity of quaint town decorations.

To me, this is one of the beauties of the season of fall: Gratitude.  I love that we as a culture take the time to be filled with gratitude and reflection.  I hope that as I take my twenty minute walks to and from campus that it will be time for me to just reflect.  I avoid music and phones during my walks because it's just a moment in my life where I want to see the beauty around me, and to not miss it.

So, while I still honestly think that there will never be an autumn as beautiful as New England, and that this beauty will never be found here in Idaho, I do think there is beauty.  I have a beautiful life.  I have a beautiful university.  I have a beautiful perspective on what lays ahead of us.  Here's to autumn and the excitement this brisky, breezy, beautiful season always brings to me!

Well, that's all for now folks.  Hope you enjoyed your stay!